| January 11, 2009 | The Most Important Things Reverend Jane Bramadat |
One Wish
If you had but one wish
what would it be?
Take your time thinking about it.
So much is at stake -
an end to all suffering,
a stop to all violence,
a solution to poverty and all of its ills.
Would you wish for love?
For forgiveness or for healing?
Would you wish the world joy?
Or the wisdom to change?
Would you wish to understand everything?
Or to know less than you do?
Take your time thinking about it.
So much is at stake.
For a wish is a thought,
and a thought is an idea.
An idea leads to commitment
And a commitment cries out for action.
A wish can be a dangerous thing,
something daring.
And it need not be witnessed by the stars
to come true.
Let us be glad that we are not given just one wish
in our lives, but many.
Let us be grateful not for wishful thinking,
but for the discipline of the thoughtful wishing
that can lead to change.
(the Reverend Lisa Friedman)
And since we are gathered here in religious community, this also seemed like a good time to talk about the important things in relation to this congregation.
The impetus for this sermon came from two poems; the first, the poem (One Wish) which I read during meditation and in particular the lines,
“For a wish is a thought/ and a thought is an idea./ An idea leads to commitment/ And a commitment cries out for action.”
Another compelling factor was a poem of Tom Barrett’s, (poet, singer, songwriter) entitled “What’s in the Temple?” Here it is:
What's In The Temple?
~ Tom Barrett ~
In the quiet spaces of my mind a thought lies still, but ready to spring.
It begs me to open the door so it can walk about.
The poets speak in obscure terms pointing madly at the unsayable.
The sages say nothing, but walk ahead patting their thigh calling for us to follow.
The monk sits pen in hand poised to explain the cloud of unknowing.
The seeker seeks, just around the corner from the truth.
If she stands still it will catch up with her.
Pause with us here a while.
Put your ear to the wall of your heart.
Listen for the whisper of knowing there.
Love will touch you if you are very still.
If I say the word God, people run away.
They've been frightened--sat on 'till the spirit cried "uncle."
Now they play hide and seek with somebody they can't name.
They know he's out there looking for them, and they want to be found,
But there is all this stuff in the way.
I can't talk about God and make any sense,
And I can't not talk about God and make any sense.
So we talk about the weather, and we are talking about God.
I miss the old temples where you could hang out with God.
Still, we have pet pounds where you can feel love draped in warm fur,
And sense the whole tragedy of life and death.
You see there the consequences of carelessness,
And you feel there the yapping urgency of life that wants to be lived.
The only things lacking are the frankincense and myrrh.
We don't build many temples anymore.
Maybe we learned that the sacred can't be contained.
Or maybe it can't be sustained inside a building.
Buildings crumble.
It's the spirit that lives on.
If you had a temple in the secret spaces of your heart,
What would you worship there?
What would you bring to sacrifice?
What would be behind the curtain in the holy of holies?
(Keeping in Touch Tom Barrett)
Through these poems I felt drawn to explore the deeper unspoken questions I heard: What really matters? What holds essential importance in this religious community? How does it make itself known in what we say and do? What important things would you wish to be strengthened? I invite you now to ‘put your ear to the wall of your heart. [And] listen for the whisper of knowing [that is] there.
And let me do some 'pump-priming’ as well. For those of you who have not had any rural experience, pump-priming involves pouring some water into a pump in order to create a pressure that will draw up water from a deeper source... You will be relieved to know it will be metaphorical priming only, no messy water flowing over in here to spoil the tranquillity and celebration of our time together! I am going to pour down into your wells of memory and experience four of the "most important things" that I have found in and with religious community as both a congregant and as a minister.
Some of them may resonate with you or perhaps stimulate you to release from your own wellsprings those important things that result in joy and comfort, challenge and compassion in this, your Unitarian * Universalist home.
My first 'most important thing' is paying attention. I need to pay attention to both external and internal things. I need to be able to hear the cry for help that is underneath a rather terse response to a simple question. "Hello, how are you today?" "Fine." This doesn’t mean rushing in to try and fix everything, but being aware of another person’s imbalance means you can be alert to offer assistance when it is needed.
I need to be aware of my own discomfort at some action or thought - and also the effect I am having on others. I need to listen to my inner voice and to the sound of the world as it reaches me through media and nature and mystery. Paying attention means learning to be fully present here and now. It is so easy to let our minds drift off, to keep our hearts turned off, to quickly shift to another frequency if we begin to sense a soul...Practice paying attention - to your own inner voice and to the rhythm and cadence of those who are also a part of this religious community.
Now, I often find a ridiculous example can help to fix the significance of a point into my mind. And here is one such example:
“Scientists at NASA built a gun specifically to launch standard 4 pound dead chickens at the windshields of airliners, military jets and the space shuttle, all traveling at maximum velocity. The idea was to simulate the frequent incidents of collisions with airborne fowl to test the strength of the windshields.
British engineers heard about the gun and were eager to test it on the windshields of their new high-speed trains.
Arrangements were made, and the gun was sent to the British engineers. When the gun was fired, the engineers stood shocked as the chicken hurled out of the barrel, crashed into the shatterproof shield, smashed it to smithereens, blasted through the control console, snapped the engineer's back-rest in two, and embedded itself in the back wall of the cabin, like an arrow shot from a bow.
The horrified Brits sent NASA the disastrous results of the experiment,
along with the designs of the windshield and begged the US scientists for suggestions.
NASA responded with a one-line memo ...
"Defrost the chicken!"
Yes, totally silly but I think it makes the point. When you pay attention, you need to pay attention to all the details. This encompasses everything from the silly to the terribly, horribly serious. Although I am mainly concentrating on important things to this congregation, in an aside, I assume like many (probably all) of you, recently I have been trying to decide how to respond to the violence that is occurring in Gaza. Is it all the fault of Israel, of Hamas; what ought I to do, am I the only one who is having difficulty knowing what to do, who to support, in what directions my religious principles point me? It all feels wrong....Even with these anguished questions very much alive in me......I still hold to the belief that when we pay attention to the core of what matters to us, more of a sense of meaning surrounds us. Whether we are working on a decision in a meeting, or singing a song, or absorbing the sacredness of this space - if we are paying attention, then we will be focussed and more attuned to the possibilities and will be more likely to notice if we (or others) are going off track.
The second 'most important thing' to me in religious community is attitude*. Do we look at the world, at this religious community, through eyes that are cynical or hopeful; do we approach problems and people with optimism, realism, or pessimism? I think it’s really a question of balance.
Attitudinally it is probably realistic to acknowledge despair as well as hope and then cheerfully but realistically work on the hopeful end of the life equation. Once again, poetry says it better, this time from Mary Oliver.
Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble,
breathe out whole buildings
and flocks of blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists and breathe out
sleeping children and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen
and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.
Wage peace with your listening:
hearing sirens, pray loud.
Remember your tools:
Flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.
Learn to knit and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty
or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
Have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Don't wait another minute.
The third 'most important thing' to me is responsibility.... that is, being responsible religiously. I take this to mean keeping my promises as a member, and in my case as the religious leader of this congregation. I undertake to participate with a fair percentage of my finances and with whatever skills I can contribute. There are certainly times I am less than completely responsible, but my conscience always reminds me if I get too lax. I am not trying to be perfect, just good enough to deserve my religious home. And that home is as good as I and others with me can make it. This also means that I don’t always get everything I want, because others may want different things and sometimes my satisfaction must come from knowing others are satisfied.
Being responsible religiously. I take this to mean living my life - in both words and actions - out of the religious principles that undergird our religious perspective. Seven principles that nourish my intellectual, moral and spiritual growth as a unique human being, encourage and support my involvement in my religious community, urge me to move beyond self and community to a broader, more inclusive, more just, more peaceful world and then on to a joyful affirmation of our interdependence with all of creation. Religious responsibility means - being faithful and striving always to live with integrity, courage, humour, and love. This is definitely one of my 'most important things!'
And finally, my fourth 'most important thing' in religious community is what I call the wonderfactor- Living life and sharing in community with as much a sense of awe and reverence and wonder and amazement as I can muster. In this frame of mind and heart, I try to be a person who honours others, strives toward excellence in my own life no matter how insignificant the task I am doing, living fully and fearlessly, dedicated to learning and kindliness and struggling to be an enemy of anger and greed. (The Holy Man, Susan Trott) Wonder, of course, also needs to encompass the childlike, or “wow” reaction to unexpected beauty, music that sends chills down your spine. Spontaneous laughter at humour revealing the utterly ridiculous status of humans. We need wonder to remind ourselves that in spite of the frightening way so many things seem to be going in the world right now, we are blessed by being alive on this blue-green planet of ours and having the opportunity to make a difference.
Well, those are four of my 'most important things' as I work and play and listen and sing in religious community: the "wonder" factor, religious responsibility, attitude, paying attention. They form an acronym to help my memory.... W.R.A.P..... but just before I wrap up my words, let me ask:
What about each of you? What are your "most important things"? How will they enhance your religious journey? How will they help to grow your congregation, support each other, the staff and the minister, nurture your mind, heart and spirit? Because if you live from the essence of what is important, you will be surprised at what you can achieve, as an individual and as a religious community. Now, this is a wrap.
Closing Words
and to reflect on important things.
May the insight and the inspiration of this time together
sustain and fulfill us until we meet again.” (Rev. Alan G. Deale, adapt. jmrb)
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